Peter Guidatis Caught Green Handed

Hometown: Durham, NCYear: JuniorPeter was caught at the Duke Free Store held in the Bryan Center on November 29. The Free Store promotes recycling in an interesting way, as students and faculty can donate or take anything they want, for free!How did you hear about the Free Store?I walked by it in the Bryan Center today.Why do you think it's important to have?It's nice way to bring awareness [to recycling], and free is a great name and great way to get people interested so that they'll actually talk to people and better understand how to be sustainable on campus and integrate that into campus life.What other things do you do in your everyday life to be sustainable?I bike to class, use a reusable water bottle, use reusable shopping bags, and use organic cotton sheets in my bed.What sustainable efforts have you noticed around campus?The new [hybrid-electric] buses are very sustainable.  All of the new buildings are LEED certified, which is nice, starting with the French Family Science Center and going to Kilgo and the new Keohane buildings, and everything else that is being built.  There are a lot of types of recycling bins that are much more widely available on campus.If you could change one thing on campus to make it more sustainable, what would it be?I would figure out a way to turn lights off in these buildings because they're always on for no reason at all, like all of these classroom lights even when they're not being used.Do you think many people know much about being sustainable?  I think a lot of people probably do understand about being sustainable but I think that a lot of times it's just as efficient to be sustainable as to not be. I think that is the biggest problem and biggest challenge on campus because a lot of people think that their time is more important than being responsible for the environment.Will you be caught green handed next? Caught Green Handed is an initiative of Students for Sustainable Living created to reward sustainability actions at Duke. Get caught doing something eco-friendly, and receive great prizes including t-shirts, stainless steel water bottles and reusable grocery bags!  It's simple, just take actions throughout the day to reduce your environmental footprint and with a little luck, you could be Caught Green Handed! The contest will continue on a twice monthly basis throughout the fall semester.